Evolution of Programmatic Marketing in India

India being one of the world’s largest tech hubs, companies are changing their advertising from traditional to programmatic. A recent report by InMobi reveals 8 out of 10 advertisers see efficiency gains with programmatic buying.
Current Scenario
Programmatic marketing constitutes lower value formats which are not preferred by larger advertising companies. Though in theoretical sense programmatic marketing is adjudged to be the future, in India publishers need to travel a distance.
Brands have issues around the transparency of inventory available through the platform. Increasingly display and video advertising is adjudged from the lens of viewability. Advertisers need to understand the phenomenon of programmatic marketing and make use of it during media planning and assessing campaign appropriateness.

The ratio of online vs. offline marketing spends globally is around 50:50 while the ratio in India is still more inclined towards offline spends. For programmatic advertising to have a higher share of the pie, the overall digital pie has to get bigger.

Making it work
a)Bring Programmatic & Creative Together
Creative is the most important factor for campaigns success. The quality of creative is only 50% to 70% responsible for a campaign’s success or failure. Media factors like ad size, placement and targeting only account for rest 30%. Nearly 90% of the creative is dynamic and is delivered to the user based on the demographics, time of the day, the day of the week, weather, etc.

b)Transparency
Due to the online digital frauds for programmatic advertising to work, every stakeholder has to be transparent including publisher and advertiser.

c)Rising importance of mobile
The availability of cheaper smartphone technology coupled with fast internet speeds, and low data costs in India means we’re seeing an upwards mobile consumption trend. The mobile environment offers marketers an incredible canvas to create engaging ads. Mobile marketing can generate an engagement rate that is two to three times higher than that of a standard display unit.

To summarize the opportunity for programmatic marketing in India is huge. By capitalizing on the above trends and tailoring their approach to programmatic, buyers can get good returns on their investment in this channel — which is beneficial for everyone in the ecosystem — buyers, publishers and tech partners alike.